Soulless

Chapter 3

I couldn’t find the peace in mind to sleep all night. After seeing Ruby walk through the doors of the grill, I was able to catch a glimpse of how the rest of the day would pan out. I had a feeling she would start following me around and I knew I would say something for her to complain to Joseph about.

I didn’t understand why she chose to come back so abruptly. I have always been able to sense a mysterious aura radiating from her skin. Then again people thought that about me as well. She hated small towns and I was not going to believe that she returned for the sake of her tardy baby sister. I was going to find out.

* * *

It wasn’t until I was hit by remarkably bright light that I had awoken from my pleasant dreams. After carelessly turning my head towards the clock did I realize that I was late for my shift.

I shot out of bed and jumped immediately into the shower. The hot water was perfect to beat away all stress from the previous day as well as what was yet to approach. After deciding on a punk, plaid top, blue jeans, and some old school sneakers I ran downstairs to find the house deserted.

It wasn’t until I walked through the front door of the Oak Hills Grill did I realize that the day was going to be a handful. The area was crammed and rush hour had come to an end a while ago. Yet the only thing I looked forward to was flushing my thoughts to nothing but tranquility.

The next few hours kept me through a pure and perfect stage of equilibrium. Once Kat and my shift ended, we decided to meet up with some friends to head over to the library since we had summer assignments which required completion and perfection. I notified Jo that I was going to be late for dinner that night.

After grabbing our books and taking a seat at a roundtable, homework became the least of our worries. We all began bombarding questions at K.C about his trip to Australia.

K.C and I were mutually connected through Dean. K.C had long silky hazel brown hair paired with the darkest brown eyes I had ever seen. They almost appeared to be black. He had very sharp and distinguished facial features, as well as being tanned, toned, and extremely buff. He was a bit older than the rest of us, considering he was a college student, but he didn’t mind to acquaintance with sophomores. 

He explained to us the excitement while skydiving from an island just off the cost of New Zealand by the name of Anchor Island. As well as how he learned to surf with waves as tall as 40 feet. My favorite was his description of how the crystal, clear waters had a deep color of blue that was absolutely irresistible. I couldn’t help but imagining myself floating in a field of blue. 

However during our entire conversation, I couldn’t help but get the impression that we, correction, I was being watched. One of my friends Yana stole a quick glance before noticing that I appeared uneasy.

“Hey babe, what’s wrong?” she asked obviously concerned for my well being. 

Yana was my “go to gal.” She was the only one out of everyone on earth who knew when I was bottling up my insides. She too came from a troubled family, so Yana was always able to see through me pretty well. I confided in her many of times, to the point where I stopped counting. There was no point lying to her now. She was like my sister.

“I’m being watched,” I replied knowing I wouldn’t have to explain.

“I knew something was wrong, that’s why I snuck a quick look at you,” she whispered since everyone else was too eager and attentive of K.C’s trip. “Do you wanna just get out of here?” she asked back again after a few seconds.

“Absolutely,” I responded matter of factly.

We said our goodbyes to the gang before heading out. As Yana got up, her bleached, blonde hair were the most gorgeous waves I’d ever seen. For a split second I could have sworn her green eyes glistened.

It wasn’t until we had just walked passed a bookshelf filled with romance novels, that I was able to make out a boy sitting on the floor with a Jane Austin novel in his hand. I saw him and smirked knowing it was him who was watching over me. I no longer had that feeling once I saw him. 

He blushed knowing I caught him in the act. Yana knew everything once she saw our facial expressions. I decided to taunt and tease the boy. 

“Am I oh-so gorgeous that you decided to scrutinize me with careful and critical attention from a distance of . . .” I looked away to examine the distance from the roundtable to the shelf we were standing at the moment. “Five feet?” I finished.

He looked at me before getting up. His deep green eyes were squinting in my direction, almost assessing everyone of my aspects. “Yes I was. Your absolutely stunning. It’s rare to find a girl with I’m assuming natural pale grey eyes that appear to be icy. Almost cold-blooded,” he stated.

I didn’t appreciate the accusational tone coming through his peachy-pink lips. I was appalled by his “compliment,” it was as if he was challenging me to claim otherwise. Most people would say something like No, no you have it all wrong. But he was right.

“That’s because they are,” I said with a blank expression, with yet a smirk on my face as I turned away towards the exit, knowing he was watching me from behind the entire time.